# Essay 6
# Curing the Reading Epidemic

To set the context, here are some data points:
- From the National Literacy Trust (UK):
-- Just 25.8% of under-18s in 2019 read for some time daily - lowest ever.
-- Just 15.2% of under-18s in 2021 wrote something daily in their spare time, down 6.3% from 2020 - lowest ever.
-- Just 34.5% of under-18s in 2021 said they enjoy writing, down 5.3% from 2020 - lowest ever.
-- Children who are the most engaged with literacy are three times more likely to have higher levels of mental wellbeing than children who are the least engaged (39.4% vs 11.8%) [2018].
-- Conversely, children who are the least engaged with literacy are twice as likely to have low levels of mental wellbeing than their peers who are the most engaged (37.4% vs 15%) [2018].
-- Young people’s levels of literacy engagement and mental wellbeing both begin and continue to decline as they transition from primary to secondary school.
- In 2018, a large US study found that a third of the 12th graders (year 13 in NZ) surveyed hadn’t read a book or eBook for pleasure in the last year. That is about three times as many as in the 1970s. Reading for pleasure, the report goes on to say, has been displaced by the rise of digital media since the 2000s. Reading lies at the foundation of all literacies and, in an era of increased digital consumption, information overwhelm and fake news, these findings should have us all on alert.
- From the 2022 Lenovo Think Report:
-- Just 34% say they spend their thinking time in clear, deep, and productive thinking.
-- 75% of IT Decision Makers globally say their colleagues struggle with engaging in clear and productive thinking.

The above data points out a major issue: Reading, Writing, and Thinking (RWT) are on a sharp decline. This is often attributed to Technology. Simple digital RW is insufficient, as physical RW has proven benefits, like retention and critical reflection. Research shows increased screen time reduces psychological well-being, impacting curiosity and distractibility, both crucial for quality RWT. Besides, many don't use screens for RWT but rather for entertainment and dopamine-driven activities. Additionally, online content is often influenced by monetary, political, or self-driven motives, affecting quality RWT, with recent claims of "2+2=5", or "Math is racist" by top educationists exemplifying a decline in logic [4, 5]. Further, research also shows that consuming more online can be superficial, and not deep. All of the above positions physical RW as more deeper, meaningful, value-based, creative, and even a healthier enjoyment source. For further context on the RWT decline and it's societal impact, please read the following extracts from [6, 7]:

- Current research suggests that reading online results in lower understanding and less critical reflection. Not all information is unbiased or even relevant to our needs, and the speed at which events are reported gives us little time to evaluate sources, think critically or engage in considered reflection. As Susan Greenfield, a neuroscientist from Oxford University, comments in her 2014 interview with ABC’s Gary Rivett: The issue is that information isn’t knowledge. Of course, you can be bombarded with endless information, endless facts but if you can’t make sense of them, one fact is the same as any other fact. You can cruise on YouTube or on Google going ‘yuck’ and ‘wow’, but you’re not actually making sense of things.
- Wolf, in her The New Zealand Listener 2018 interview, noted that print reading allows us to slow down and give time to sophisticated deep reading processes, letting us discern truth, apply critical analysis, gauge inference, develop empathy, appreciate beauty to reach the knowledge and wisdom necessary to sustain a good society.
- That there are fewer teenagers reading books than in the past may not come as much of a surprise. Supporting teens to read for pleasure — developing the ‘will’ to read — brings a raft of benefits and is a powerful ally in developing literate, compassionate, healthy, and engaged citizens.
- Reading for pleasure is associated with numerous benefits — from improvements in reading achievement and comprehension, writing, vocabulary, and general knowledge to improved empathy, understanding of self and others, and wellbeing.
- The more you enjoy reading, the more you read. The more you read, the better you become at reading. The better you become, the more you read — a virtuous cycle.

Due to the global nature of the issue, the above data can be extrapolated for the Indian context. In fact, inaccessible or unaffordable literature has shown to decrease RW further in the lower-income strata, making the above data more relevant in India. It is concerning that the NEP does not address the reading epidemic sufficiently, and at best only treats it as just a skill or a metric to be met.

The above background necessitates a government and societal intervention to improve RWT levels primarily for under-18s, helping build well-informed citizens that contribute positively to nation building.

It is to be noted that fancy book events, fairs, and shows, are not the answer. The focus should very much be foundational and organic, and all about creating the environment for reading to thrive and sustain. The newspapers and magazines need to talk about books, schools can invite famous authors and reading challenges and literature weeks have to be a plenty. Most importantly, a very strong and vibrant literary school environment should be established with book discussions, exchanges, and silent reading groups. This forensic focus is not just about "spreading" or "doing" some cool events for the name sake of meeting an objective. It is very much organic, came from true reading role models, and it was all about "for the love of the written word" and the joy of reading. Super simplistic, effective, and organic with far reaching effects on society, most notably building healthy citizens.

For the Indian context, we can identify some major challenges:
1. Lack of a conducive literary environment, role models, and senior readers (teachers and parents)
2. AI Tools doing homework, leading to significantly reduced RWT
3. RW is a biologically unnatural task, while the technology tendency is more natural, making current RW promotional initiatives not sustainable
4. RW is sold to have benefits for skills and job growth only
5. English teachers don't engage well enough, leading to lack of literary interest

To address these issues, the Government can update the NEP to include the following solutions.

1. Create highly engaging and personal literary environments using the 4 Cs (given below). Put the child in the center of the action, make the story about them, and share it in an engaging manner. Conduct RWthons for teachers and parents.
2. To combat AI tools, give oral vivas 50% assessment weightage. To articulate effectively, one has to write regularly first to clear one’s thoughts well. To write well, one requires to read well. Fundamentally, oral vivas tackle RWT effectively in the academic space.
3. Upto the age of 5, focus on rewiring the brain for RW through positive literary enforcement, not negative technology reinforcement. Make picking a book a natural, sustainable choice in leisure time as opposed to a forced, temporary compulsion.
4. Instill RW for the joy of it, not materialistic-wise.
5. Teaching English should have personal touches, and be highly reflective.

Keeping the above in mind, we can abstract the policy objective of the NEP RWT update as follows: The literary environment needs to be more engaging, personal, and regular for all at the school and societal level both.

Actionable Solution - The 4 Cs:

1. **Community**: Create an active community/club for young readers and writers in schools and societies. Perhaps a no-brainer, but still a major missing in today's education scenario.
2. **Conversations**: Promote active conversations of autobiographical fiction, story telling, book discussions, exchanges, etc. Children like to see themselves as the hero of a story, so why not encourage them to write and act on it?
3. **Context**: Embed situational/local context in literature relevant to audience. India's diversity means one-book-fits-all is not the right approach.
4. **Completely Quiet Reading Time**: This is to be implemented as the most important, basic, and non-negotiable rule. 15-minutes of silent reading every morning in all schools and higher education institutions. This helps physically strenghten a visceral or an atomic habit of reading, which helps keep the technology lure at bay.

The 4 Cs are to be Government mandated in schools and societies as they incorporate RW at a fundamental level, with the “T” part naturally embedded throughout.

For my closing remarks, I hope these would stick:
- From [7]:
> Neil Postman wrote the classic book, 'Amusing Ourselves to Death' in 1985, but his thoughts on the consequences of the rise of television and the decline of reading are eerily relevant today:
> "***We are losing a sort of psychic habit, a logic, a sense of complexity, an ability to spot contradictions and even falsity.***"
- Television, a poem in the book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by the famous children's author, Roald Dahl. This too stands tall to this day.


## References

[1] https://literacytrust.org.uk/research-services/research-reports/children-and-young-peoples-reading-in-2019/
[2] https://literacytrust.org.uk/news/our-new-research-reveals-record-low-levels-of-writing-enjoyment-among-children-and-young-people-this-national-writing-day/
https://news.lenovo.com/pressroom/press-releases/lenovo-think-report/
[3] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30406005/
[4] https://youtu.be/Wq2joJpJ3IQ
[5] https://youtu.be/dVclwd8Xykw
[6] https://natlib.govt.nz/blog/posts/reading-on-screen-vs-reading-in-print-whats-the-difference-for-learning
[7] https://natlib.govt.nz/blog/posts/keeping-teens-reading
[8] https://www.psychreg.org/print-media-vs-digital-media/
[9] https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/book-reading-habit-on-decline-among-youths/articleshow/3588219.cms
[10] https://indiadidac.org/2019/11/decline-in-reading-habits-among-children/
[11] https://www.hindustantimes.com/education/nep-children-s-literature-and-reading-promotion-missing-link/story-W1nrjET7Q8sXhFcW0YSc0I.html
[12] https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2018-41062-001